The turkey is on the grill, the pies are in the oven. Before long, garlic will be roasting and potatoes will be getting ready to be mashed. Our home is awash with the fantastic smells of Thanksgiving, and soon, we will be gathered around the table for this annual feast. It brings a smile to my face knowing that this scene will be replicated throughout our community, within our state, and across our nation. We will gather as individuals, each with our own set of beliefs that make us unique (even within a tightly-knit family), but united around the idea that we should break bread together for the common purpose of being thankful.
In many homes it will seem as if this is a forced or contrived moment of togetherness. There has been so much hype about significant points of division, whether it be Covid, climate, race, politics, sports, or any number of other issues that are blaring from the national media outlets. It is as if we have been told that when someone disagrees with us, they aren’t worth talking to. But it is worth pointing out that, for all of our division today, it was much worse when our nation was in the midst of an actual Civil War – at a time when brothers weren’t sitting next to each other eating a turkey, but instead were on opposite sides of a field shooting at each other. And it was in the middle of that war that President Lincoln established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national day of Thanksgiving.
It is always right and good to give thanks and praise, especially when we have a feast on the table and family and friends to share it with. Yet perhaps it is even more important to give thanks when things aren’t going so well. When we are seemingly stuck in a downward spiral, our minds easily stay focused on the things that are going wrong in our lives. As we shift our view, and instead focus on the things that we have to be thankful for, we begin to see points of commonality that we share with others and we become more aware of the blessings that are right in front of our eyes. To be able to pause in the midst of a war, when humanity seems lost, creates an opportunity to embrace the humanity of others and begin to see some light where there had previously been nothing but darkness.
I’m certainly not naïve enough to suggest that breaking bread together will smooth over all that seems to divide us today. Some of those divisions have seemingly become insurmountable. But what I do know is that it is harder to hate someone who just passed you the mashed potatoes and enjoyed a meal with you. A Thanksgiving meal together may not erase all of our differences, but it can reinforce the frequently forgotten truth that we can be genuinely civil to those with whom we disagree. In fact, it is even possible to love those who don’t think like you do.
I pray that you will spend at least a part of this day thinking deeply of the things that you have to be grateful for, and perhaps find healing and unity in the midst of your Thanksgiving.
Peace, blessings and a happy Thanksgiving – Pastor Aaron